Afterglow of an Angel Chapters 4 & 5
by niki1988
Summary: When the A.I. team are in need of help, an old friend from Sunnydale comes to the rescue, with secrets that she can't hide forever and a certain vampire with a soul who has a secret of his own will find out with his friends and things will be different.


**After looking at a little mix up, I've decided to post the next two chapters. Bad news is I only have the first six chapters and once that one is posted, Afterglow of an Angel will have to wait until my pain in the butt hooks up the old computer and he just prefers to be lazy. Anyway, here are two chapters for you to enjoy.**

**Chapter Four**

The Next Day…

The morning Willow woke up in her own room went better for her before she took a shower and got dressed before she walked out of her room and locked it before instead of taking the elevator like she did yesterday, she decided to use her powers.

Little did she know, Spike was lurking and waiting until she left with Fred waiting behind him. Wesley was supposed to be with them, but something came up and Angel called for him, so he told them to go without them.

"Spike, are you sure this is a good idea?" Fred asked.

"If you have any other ideas, pet. I'd love to hear 'em." Spike answered.  
"Okay, you've got me there." Fred mumbled as they walked over to the door to Willow's guest room and reached in her purse to get what would help them get into the room.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Elsewhere…

It was a lovely day to be outside as the Redheaded Witch was strolling through the park of L.A. after walking out of the alley she teleported in and acted like a normal human being.

Willow looked up at the sunny sky and closed her eyes as she breathed in the clean air before she started walking. She was glad to get a second try at what she tried to do yesterday and that was to see what she could of the city of Angels, not getting to on the other occasions she came by, only came to restore Angel's soul a few years after he'd told Angel about Buffy's death months before she brought her former friend back from the dead. She now wondered what could've happened if she never thought of doing it, that she would've let Buffy rest in peace instead of bringing her back from the dead? Now she didn't even know why she did it anymore.

She started with the park, almost like the park in Washington, but happier and filled with much more people and more life where the sun was shining all over. After feeding the geese in the pond, she decided to walk down the block, passing citizens as she went inside an ice cream store and picked out a chocolate cone to walk out and see a Mother on the street corner with her two kids, a toddler crying in her arms and her other child which looked to be about 10, was being given a ticket and not needing to look, she waved her hand and the Officer walked away at the Witches command.

Afterward, while eating her ice cream, she noticed she was passing by a Church and stopped for a moment as she could see groups of people walking in and just watched them. Religion had not really been one of the things she would think of when she was in the Hospital, with the other sick kids who were probably worse off than her and the older she got, she didn't seem to care when things had already started to go bad with the Scooby gang, but no one was willing to say it aloud. She realized once they crowd of people who were walking into the church were now inside, she proceeded to walk down the sidewalk until she came across the movie theater.

"Hi. One ticket for Breakfast at Tiffany's." Willow said, pulling out her wallet.

She paid for her Ticket and went for snacks and a drink before going to where the movie would be playing. She'd never seen Breakfast at Tiffany's, maybe now was the time while she had it to take her mind off of the things that were happening and then she could stop at the small coffee shop on the way back.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

That Night…

Lorne was humming a tune to himself as he was walking through the hallway out of his office. He was going out to have some fun where he knew that he'd make the life of the party at almost any of the clubs here in L.A. He tried to ask Angel and the others to join him, but they passed and he said good night before humming tunes to himself with a sea breeze in hand and wearing his shades, even though it was night time, but either way. He was all about the party when it was necessary.

He stayed focused and took his direction back to where he was going until he saw the Redheaded Witch who saved Fred's life, pop out and a huge smile lit up on his face

"Well, hey there, Glenda. Welcome back to our Demonic service Law firm!" Lorne greeted.

"Hi, Lorne!" Willow greeted as she felt the Empath demon wrap his arms around her and they hugged. She knew he was a Demon way before, but it didn't bother her.

The hug ended. "You look sharp. Heading out for the night of the town?" Willow asked.

"You betcha, honey. I tried to see if I could get the other heroes to join, but they weren't really in a partying mood. Not even our Champion." Lorne answered.

"Yeah, I don't think parties are really Angel's scene. Sometimes bad things happen." Willow stated.

"True. Plus, he might still be mad about what happened at our last party together; Halloween." Lorne replied.

"Halloween?" She asked.

"Long story. Hey, what about you? Why don't you and me hit the town and shake our groove thang's all night, huh? Unless you're feeling a little faint like last time?" Lorne asked.

"I hate to let you down, but I'm gonna have to pass too. It was a long day." Willow answered.

"Oh, that's right. You saw the sugar coated part of the city of Angels. Anything happen to make it not sugary?" Lorne asked.

"I might've helped out someone with certain persuasion where no one say it." Willow answered.

"Well, we can talk about it tomorrow. The night is young and so am I. Then again, aren't we all?" The Empath demon said.

Willow smiled as she could hear him heading to the elevator and started walking to her guest room. After the movie, there was a good singer at the coffee shop and one of the songs she heard, she couldn't get it out of her head and sang a tune to herself.

**Bring on the wonder, bring on the song  
I pushed you down deep in my soul for too  
Long…**

Lorne paused in his walk when he could hear singing and turned around to see the Redheaded Witch walking away and when he could see what it was that she wasn't telling anyone else, partying was really the last thing he was thinking of once he was in the elevator, but it was too late to change his mind.

(Oh, pumpkin.) Lorne sadly thought to himself.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He was doing it again. Pacing back and fourth like last time before Willow fainted. He had to snap out of it; This wasn't like high school, he wasn't asking the most popular girl in school to the Prom.

(Just do it! Talk to her. This is Willow.) He thought to himself.

Before he could go and do just that, there was a knock on the door and a smile on his face, only to be shot down when it was someone else he really didn't want to see.

"Hey, Deadboy. Or should I say Mr. Deadboy, now that your Demon Incorporated?" Xander snidely greeted.

"Xander, speak of the Jackass and he'll show up with an eye patch." Angel said back.

"Touche'." Xander muttered as he walked in the office.

"Other than you annoying me with that childish nickname, what're you doing here?" Angel asked.

"It's about Willow. We know she's here and she came to help you guys with Fred when…"

"Fred, our friend that Giles didn't want her to help." Angel finished. "She told us."

"Really? She told you that she's been living in Washington these past couple months? Did she tell you why she turned against us? Did she tell you her reason why she walked out on us and disappeared for almost 10 months without a phone call, letter, or e-mail?" Xander asked.

Angel remained where he was. It was true he didn't know those things, if they were even true. He hadn't really taken a chance to talk to her and that was his fault, but that didn't mean Xander was innocent.

"I think the more important question, where were you, when all those things happened? Or more likely, who were you with when she needed you?" Angel asked.

Angel watched the boy's face and waited for a response, but nothing before he walked out.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Later That Night…

Willow was in the middle of the living room, candles lit in front of her and sitting Indian style on the floor. Another part she still had to deal with keeping her from getting too sick and mildly made her feel better.

The Witch was pulled out of her meditation period when she heard a knock on the door and walked out of the living room, still dressed in the same outfit she wore that day and paused. Just because Angel owned Wolfram & Hart, didn't mean for her to let her guard down.

"Who is it?" She asked.

"It's Angel." He answered on the other side of the door.

Willow let a small smile cross her face as her fear went away and had walked to the door and opened it when she saw Angel standing in the door.

"Hi, Angel." She said happily, but then worry crossed her face when she saw a weird look on his. "Is everything okay? Fred isn't…" Angel stopped her rant before it could go on.

"No, no. Fred's fine. She's fine, thanks to you. Illyria won't be bothering her. Mind if I come in?" He asked.

"Sure, come in." She answered, moving out of his way.

Angel nodded as he walked inside her guest room and caught the smell of insense and seeing the light coming from the living room.

"If this is a bad time…" He started to say until he heard a little giggle.

"What?" He asked.

"Remember you asked that before that night in my room? I'm not supposed to have boys in my room." She answered.

"I promise to behave myself." He said, smiling, rememing the memory well, just when her beauty was still blossoming.

Willow had a smile on her face from the answer and thinking of that memory when he came to her room that night to ask for help in finding out what Billy Ford was hiding from the others when he came to Sunnydale.

"Meditating? You're sure you weren't busy?" He asked.

"I could always ask you the same thing, you know." She answered.

She was right there. The only time they really talked was the night he walked her to her room and that had been it at the moment.

"So what brings you up here?" Willow asked as she turned to blow out the lit candles.

"I was going to come by until I got a visitor. Xander." Angel answered.

Willow had paused after blowing out the first few candles when she heard that name and just waved her hand over the rest and they were out before she turned back around to face the vampire with a soul. She hoped he hadn't know anything else that she hadn't told him…yet.

"You know, don't you?" Willow asked.

"Maybe, maybe not. But if there's something that happened to make you not want to be around the others, you can tell me." Angel answered.

Willow thought about what he said and part of her was telling him to tell him everything while another part was to tell him why things were so distant with her and her former friends.

"You're right." She said as she sat up on the couch and sighed.

"Things changed, for the worst when Sunnydale was gone and we all knew it, but no one had the guts to say anything. Bad decisions were made with lives, friends keeping secrets again and again, making deals with the enemy, and my leaving was just the icing on the cake." she started.

"What happened?" He asked.

Willow took a short moment. It was time to talk about it, in order to move on with her life, she knew that it was time to talk to someone about it and now was the time.

"We moved from place to place and South America was our last stop. Or at least for me, anyway. Once night, I was with the Potential Slayers patrolling for a demon that killed a villiger or two and I was scratched on the arm by it when it was attacking. It was a Matriani demon, if it scratched you, rage was the key to trigger it and eventually turn into one of them unless their stopped. When it got away from us, the girls brought me back home to the others who were not there. I went to my room and…" She paused for a second.

"You remember my Girlfriend, Kennedy?" Angel nodded. He had heard of her.

"She told me that she was sick and Buffy said she'd be training." Willow sighed again. It was time to tell him.

"Well, when I got to my room, I found Kennedy in bed…with Buffy." She said.

Angel's eyes went wide and he moved over to the redheaded witch as she continued to tell her side of the story.

"When they saw me, Buffy started putting her clothes back on and Kennedy didn't even bother to. She kept the sheet around her and when I found out this happened several times before we met and before we were even dating, I just- I lost it. But it wasn't all me."

Angel didn't interrupt and signed for her to continue.

"It all happened so fast. Before Kennedy could say anything else, I threw her across the room and Buffy and I were about to fight. Before we could do that, the Demon that attacked me jumped through the window in the living room and Faith was fighting it off. I knew how to stop it and punched my fist through it's chest before I pulled out it's heart and crushed it."

Angel still didn't interrupt.

"When the process was stopped, I felt like I still had left over dark magic in me I forgot about and attacked Buffy. She was hurt pretty bad and then when I saw what happened, I closed my eyes and it wasn't long until I was back to normal. And when Giles and the others wouldn't let me explain my side of the story, I realized that they didn't need me anymore and I didn't need them. Giles said if I walked out the door to never come back, so I packed my things, walked out with money from Bar mitzvah's and went to Washington. It take too long to find the house I was living in and no one was living in it, so I took care of everything my self with the help of magic and have been there ever since." Willow finished.

"Willow, why didn't you tell me?" He asked.

"I assumed I wouldn't be here long and you wouldn't need my help anymore, just ask Buffy and the others." She answered.

"Oh, I will! How could they just turn against you and not give you a chance to explain to them what happened and you had almost no control?" He asked.

"Like I said, things changed." She answered.

"You should've told me. Why didn't you?" Angel asked.

"I didn't want to hurt you." Willow answered truthfully. "And I lived in Washington to be alone, all I had was myself."

Before Angel could say anything, an idea came up in his head.

"If I offered you a job at Wolfram & Hart, would that convince you to stay?" He asked.

Willow looked up at him in surprise. Did Angel want to hire her as an employee to work for him? In a demon Law Firm?

"I don't know." She said.

Angel could tell that made her some what uneased and he knew now there was no one else he or his team could trust. She'd always come through for them when they asked for her help. Now that her friends were no longer her friend, he felt it was time to return the favor to her for being on their side and it was better for her to be with people who still cared about her than to be alone.

He sat next to her before looking into her eyes.

"Listen, I know this is a lot. But wouldn't it be better to be around people who won't turn away from you?" He asked.

Willow thought about it for a moment, knowing he had a point and it was better to not be alone.

"Can I have some time to think about it?" She asked.

"Sure. Take your time. I'll, un, let you meditate." He answered.

Willow smiled up him as he got up from his spot on the couch and before she could do just that, she heard his footsteps stop.

"It's really good to see you again." Angel said.

Willow looked up at him to say something, but he was already out the door.

Willow breathed a sigh of relief and regret when she was alone in the room again, that being one of the things she'd come clean about. What was she going to do or say when he found out about everything else she was hiding? By the way, Angel, I have cancer and I've had it since I was a kid. Oh, and I have this new power that makes me more than just the Witch you remember from Sunnydale. Yes, that would go so well. She knew what would happen. He would be hurt, like the others and then they would turn away from her like the others did.

Until she knew what to do when she came across that bridge, she would have to handle the other situations first. Like Xander showing up and trying to make her sound like she was the bad guy. Where was he?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter Five

Willow waited until she was sure that it was okay to sneak out of her guest room, using her magic instead of trying to sneak out like a normal person would, thinking if she tried to take the elevator, the others would have questions for her about why she went out so late. That would mess up her reason for going out so late, and that reason was to find one of her ex best friends. What was this, painful memory week? She hadn't seen any of them for months since that night and he and Giles had the audacity to get in her way. She wasn't going to wait to take care of this or for him to leave.

Not needing a locater spell, she knew exactly where to find him and sensed that he wasn't alone in a motel across town, which didn't take her too long to get to without running into demons and found the place she was looking for after passing the manager.

She didn't waste time knocking on the door as soon as she was standing in front of it and waited before she knocked again. She knew he was in there and took a step back before the door open to see the one she was looking for.

"Willow, hi. Wasn't expecting you." Xander greeted.

"Xander, I think you know better than to try and sneak past a Witch like me, don't you?" Willow greeted.

He nodded at that. He honestly didn't think that she would be stopping by to see him. Before he could ask her if she wanted to come in, he looked to see that she was gone and then felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see her standing behind him.

"Gee, Will, would you like to come in or just let yourself in?" Xander asked as he closed the door.

"If you kept me standing out there a little longer, a vamp probably could've picked me for a snack." Willow answered, even though it wasn't true.

"Who is it, Harris?" Willow turned around when she heard someone calling from the bathroom to see Faith drying off her hair fully dressed.

"Faith, Sunnydale's own Rogue Slayer." Willow greeted.

"Red. By the way, former Rogue Slayer, remember? But it's good to see you two." Faith greeted back.

"I didn't say it was good to see you. Or him." Willow said coldly.

Faith nodded before Willow turned back to the former Nerdy boy, who was now a Commander looking man and folded her arms over her chest and kept her eyes on him.

"Obvious question, but what're you doing here?" Willow asked.

"Giles said that you weren't in Washington anymore and when you guys talked, so I decided," Faith cleared her throat, cutting him off.

"We decided to fly in and I thought I'd stop by and see CEO Deadboy to-"

"Spill the beans on why I was living alone in the first place and I wasn't with my so called friends? That was a really nice move, by the way, outing me. Thanks a lot." Willow sarcastically finished for him.

"Well, as low as it was, what else did you want me to do? Willow, we haven't seen you in over a year and we're supposed to just forget about you?" Xander asked.

"And we wanted to know why you attacked B in the first place before you up and left." Faith added.

"Come home with us, Wills. We miss you. Things are good now with everyone and I'm sure everyone else misses their favorite Wicca." Xander stated.

Willow scoffed at that idea. Go back? After all this time and what took place the night they left her behind?

"First off, don't call me that anymore. Second, you don't know me anymore and you all proved it that night and even before that; I was only leverage to you when the demons we faced were too much for you. Third, we were done when I walked out the door when all my friends turned their backs on me." She answered with venom in her voice.

With those words, she knew she would be sick if she looked at either of them again before she went past Xander and opened the door before slamming it behind her. Even as Xander tried calling her back, but she didn't stop walking.

How dare they? Thinking that they could just come to Los Angeles and then just tell her that everything was fine, which it wasn't, and that she could go back home with them like nothing ever happened? And say what, that they were happy? There were times she wished she could've turned them into rats and what happened a moment ago was one of those times.

She needed to go somewhere other than back to her guest room, somewhere relaxing and the beach was the first place she thought of and used her powers to get there, not caring if anyone saw her teleport. What she didn't know while she had been outside of the Demon Law firm, was that she wasn't the only one out late at night as Spike stepped out from behind a pillar he was hiding behind before he pulled out a cigarette and headed back to Wolfram and Hart on his motorcycle and see how Fred was doing.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Willow felt herself calming down as she just stood in front of the waves, the sound of the going back and forth putting her at ease as she let her feet sink in the damp sand, her skirt getting a little damp, but she didn't care. She was relaxing herself after what just took place. She had passed the same church she had walked by and no one was there and continued to walk.

She thought about when she first found out when she was sick one Hospital trip and while she was in her hospital bed, seeing her Mother and Father break down from the news they were being told by the Doctor's. For years, it did, even when she was well enough to go home and she didn't feel sick, which confused the Doctor's, as if he sickness had paused itself for a time being until it was ready to emerge again. Her Parents dealt with it until she was in between 16 and 17, which around that time was when they had completely abandoned her. She couldn't blame them anymore. They would usually say they had last minute meetings, but I think she knew deep down if they saw her getting worse and looking less alive, they would shatter in the worst way and she didn't want them to remember her that way. She wanted their memories of their only child to be where she wasn't sick, where she was perfectly healthy and they never needed to go to the Hospital as much as they did.

And that was the same thing that she wanted for Angel and the others. She knew that she would have to tell them that when this blessing inside her that was keeping her illness away was gone, they would have to say goodbye and have to let her go. She didn't want to tell them, but then that wouldn't be fair to them.

She knew she would have to go back sometime, but right now, she just wanted to be here and continue to clear her head.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Meanwhile…

Fred yawned softly as she kept looking through the scope and her and Wesley spending the whole night working on this, who she sent home when he needed more sleep than her and that Spike would probably pop in some time and to see what they had so far.

She didn't like doing this at all, sneaking around behind a friend's back who was hiding something from the group, but there were things that she was keeping to herself and after the things the Bleach blonde vampire had told them, she knew that there really wasn't anyone else he would go to and if she wasn't going to tell any of them, then they needed to find out if it was something that they could help her out like she had when she flew to L.A. to save her life from the Demon that could've made her nonexistent.

Willow saved her life and the others before this. Why would she be hiding anything from them, or more likely, why was she alone and not with her other friends who she lived far away from as did they? And what was the drug that she had stashed away if it wasn't what she thought it was?

She was pulled out of her thoughts when her computer started beeping and seeing that the results of the drug found in Willow's guest room were completed as the results printed and she pulled it off of the fax once it was done before taking out the drug sample.

"Antiangiogenesis.". She whispered as she looked over the results, which looked very strange to her, some good and some bad.

She sat down in her chair while still holding the results and felt her eyes begin to water as she grabbed a box of tissues.

She wished at that moment she didn't know the truth.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

That Morning…

Willow breathed sighs of relief after leaving the beach and sneaking back to Wolfram and Hart without anyone seeing that she had been out the whole night once again. The beach was very much needed and it came in handy to help her relax and forget what made her so made, that's the way she wanted to think.

As she was walking down the hallway to her guest room, she sensed that she would be having a visitor which she at first expected to be one of the Vampires' with souls or Champions as they were being called while they were here, but even though it felt like a Demon, it wasn't a Vampire. She came around the corner to see the Green skinned Empath demon standing by her door.

"Hey there, Good lookin'." He greeted with a big smile.

She could tell that he was trying not to look glum, but she wasn't going to act like he didn't know. She knew that he read her, she wanted to tell someone to make things a little bit easier and she remembered she read that Empath demons could only read a person's aura when they sang. She held her hands together while still holding her keys and looked at him.

"It's okay, Lorne." She assured him.

Lorne's smile went away when he could tell on her face she knew he read her and became serious about what the situation was at hand.

"Does the big guy know, or more likely, the gang?" He asked.

Willow didn't answer. She knew that was still on her list. Lorne understood. He knew very well that the Redheaded Witch cared about the Vampire with a Soul and so did he, but neither of them had confronted each other about their feelings. He hoped they would be doing that sooner than later.

Willow didn't move from where she was standing as the Empath demon moved over and pulled her into a comforting hug and she hugged back.

"For what it's worth, if there's any gal in this world that missed out picking to conquer that dead, unbeating heart of his, it's you, Sugar." The Empath demon stated.

When the hug was over and the Empath demon walked away and entered the open elevator, as soon as the door were shut, Willow fell to her knees as she broke down and wept.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


End file.
